APRIL 20-- Now that the Pope Secret is out and the Sith mania is in full
swing, fans are descending on Indianapolis in record numbers. We
assume. The city is swarming with fans from all over the world and you can
see people representing your favorite clubs, web sites, and of course, toy
companies. Since the convention technically doesn't start until noon
on Thursday, there's quite a few things to be seen on this zero day.
For starters, there's a sneak preview of the Celebration store. A limited
kiosk allowing sales of some items was open so you could snag some garments,
a lanyard, a program guide, and a nifty little disposable camera with
what looks like new key art loosely based on the Galactic Heroes
figures. While the figures weren't on sale just yet, we did get a
sneak peak at it as well as all the shirts, pins, and other
awesome swag that will assuredly take away your money-- if you're here, that
is. Otherwise you're more or less out of luck.
The big exciting piece at this show is Hasbro's exclusive Darth
Vader, which seems to be a repackaged and possibly slightly modified version
of the 25th Anniversary Two-Pack figure originally packaged with Obi-Wan Kenobi
in 2002. What makes it special? Well, the box talks,
James Earl Jones recorded dialogue just for the figure and it looks like Hasbro
had the foresight to allow you to change the batteries without opening the box--
and we appreciate this. It's $15, but for an extra $3 you can get a Star
Case custom made to fit this item emblazoned with an embossed logo
representing the convention. It's a neat piece, and while the
production run is unknown, we do know you can buy four figures per badge and no
more than eight figures per trip to the store. So if you have your
friends' badges, the maximum number of figures you can buy is eight regardless
of the numbers of stars left on your badge that remain to be unpunched.
(Did we mention they're punching badges to get these?)
This is, of course, just some of what will be on display at the
show. Like at San Diego's Comic Con International, you can pick up
select exclusives at some vendor booths, including a Code 3 Collectibles
three-dimensional recreation of the original Empire Strikes Back teaser
poster, and it's a surprisingly cheap $19.99. Gentle Giant
has a Sandtrooper Sergeant minibust with a black shoulder pauldron and
interchangable limbs, and this is expected to be $50. Want a
reminder of just how much scratch you're blowing? Anthony Grandio
Company has a checkbook cover with Darth Vader and the traditional
Celebration III key art with Vader's head on it. Another surprise
was a plush 14-inch Yoda from Comic Images, limited to 500 pieces
and the price, well, we don't know what that is yet. But we're
looking. Finally, there's a Master Replicas .45 scale black chrome Obi-Wan
Kenobi lightsaber. Limited to 3,000 pieces, and it's either $175 or
it isn't... again, it's not in the listings.
In addition to these three dimensional items, there's a bunch of posters,
prints, and other items. Acme Archives has an animation cel
featuring key art of Yoda from the animated Clone Wars shorts, Animated
Animations has a Tsuneo Sanda lithograph, Topps has a free promo card
of General Grievous. And Del Rey has an extra pricey edition of the
hardcover Revenge of the Sith novelization for you bibliophiles,
autographed, leather bound, and otherwise exciting to people into leather.
(You know who you are.) As these items will be at the booths of the
vendors, they aren't on display here.
At this time, we're not sure if there will be any surprise items, but we're
banking on no. It's likely that LEGO will have a freebie, but we
have no idea what. There's also no known exclusive Bust-Ups, which
is a little disappointing, but it's early and who the heck knows what will come
as the days fly by.
Fans weren't able to do a lot other than look at the big glass case of merch
or pick up their tickets, but the ability to do that will save them some time in
the morning-- they can sleep in and not wake up at the crack of dawn to wait in
a line to pick up their passes. Instead, they can wake up and get in the
Fan Club line for early admission, which, on Thursday, will allow them entry to
the festivities at the crack of noon.
Downtown was packed with fans and food, so all you had to do was walk a few
steps to get to Steak & Shake or Hooters or Shake & Hooters to meet up
with your fanboy (or fangal) bretheren for dinner, drinks, and delightful
conversation. For Day 0, the motto for the entertainment is DIY-- do
it yourself. And it looks like those that brought their own fun had
a pretty good time!
--Adam Pawlus
